Television transmission system having signal and antenna element redundancy

Abstract

A television (TV) transmission system is adapted to receive a plurality of TV signals and to transmit these TV signals at a plurality of channel frequencies using multi-bay antenna. The system includes a plurality of exciters, each exciter receiving a one of the TV signals and operative to combine the TV signal with a carrier signal at a respective one of the channel frequencies to produce a transmittable signal. Each exciter is coupled to a signal splitter which produces a plurality of split signals from the transmittable signal. A separate power amplifier is coupled to receive each split signal and passes an amplified signal to a power combiner which produces a single combined output signal. A plurality of such power combiners pass their respective output signals to a plurality of antenna elements arranged to radiate as a group.

Claims

1. A television (TV) transmission system adapted to receive a plurality (n) of TV signals, V1, V2... Vi,... Vn, and to transmit said TV signals at a plurality (n) of channel frequencies, Q1, Q2,... Qi,... Qn, respectively, said system comprising:

(a) a plurality (n) of exciters, A1, A2,... Ai,... An, each exciter, Ai, having an input for receiving one of said TV signals, Vi, and operative to combine said TV signal, Vi, with a carrier signal at a respective one of said channel frequencies, Qi, to produce a transmittable signal, Ti;

(b) a plurality (n) of signal splitters, B1, B2... Bi,... Bn, each splitter, Bi, being coupled to receive a transmittable signal, Ti, from a corresponding one of said exciters, Ai, and producing therefrom a plurality (m) of splitter signals, S1, S2... Si,... Sm;

(c) a plurality of phase shifting/amplitude adjusting networks, each connected to receive one of the signals Si;

(d) a plurality of power amplifiers, one per channel up to one per antenna feed, connected to receive the outputs of said networks;

(e) a plurality (j) of power combiners, E1, E2... Ei,... Ej, each power combiner, Ei, coupled to receive an amplified signal, Si, from a plurality of the power amplifiers, and producing therefrom a single combined output signal, Oi;

(f) a plurality (k) of antenna elements, M1, M2... Mi,... Mk, each antenna element, Mi, coupled to receive a representation of said output signal, Oi, of at least one of said first combiners;

whereby said antenna elements radiate electromagnetic waves in response to their received signals.

2. The TV transmission system defined in claim 1, further comprising a plurality (j) of power amplifiers, F1, F2... Fi,... Fj, each coupled to receive an output signal, Oi, from one of said first combiners, Ei, and to produce a representation of the received output signal with increased gain for transmission to an antenna element, Mi.

3. The TV transmission system defined in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of first phase correctors, C1, C2... Ci,... Cx, each coupled to receive a splitter signal, Si, from one of said splitters and to adjust the phase thereof, thereby to equalize the phase of all splitter signals produced by said one splitter.

4. The TV transmission system defined in claim 1, further comprising a plurality of amplitude correctors, D1, D2... Di,... Dx, each coupled to receive a splitter signal, Si, from one of said splitters and to adjust the gain thereof, thereby to equalize the gain of all splitter signals produce by said one splitter.

5. The TV transmission system defined in claim 1, further comprising a plurality (k) of second combiners, H1, H2... Hi,... Hk, each coupled to receive the output signal, Oi, from a plurality of said first combiners, and producing therefrom a single combined antenna signal, Ti, for transmission to an antenna element, Mi.

6. The TV transmission system defined in claim 2, further comprising a plurality (j) of second phase correctors, G1, G2... Gi,... Gj, each coupled to receive the representation of first output signal, Oi, produced by a power amplifier, Fi, and to adjust the phase thereof, thereby to equalize the phase of said first output signals.

7. The TV transmission system defined in claim 2, further comprising a plurality (j) of first bandpass filters, N1, N2... Ni,... Nj, each coupled to receive the representation of first output signal, Oi, produced by a power amplifier, Fi, and to pass selected frequencies thereof, thereby to ensure that all frequencies transmitted by the antenna element coupled thereto are within a desired range.

8. The TV transmission system defined in claim 5, further comprising a plurality (k) of second bandpass filters, J1, J2... Ji,... Jk, each coupled to receive one of said combined antenna signal, Ti, and to pass selected frequencies thereof, thereby to ensure that all frequencies transmitted by the antenna element coupled thereto are within a desired range.

9. The TV transmission system defined in claim 5, further comprising a plurality (k) of circulators, I1, I2... Ii,... Ik, each coupled to receive one of said combined antenna signal, Ti, and to pass said signal to an antenna element, Mi, and to a prescribed impedance, Ki, thereby to provide a substantially exact impedance match to said antenna element, Mi.

10. The TV transmission system defined in claim 2, further comprising a plurality (k) of circulators, I1, I2... Ii,... Ik, each coupled to receive a representation of said output signal, Oi, and to pass said signal to an antenna element, Mi, and to a prescribed impedance, Ki, thereby to provide a substantially exact impedance match to said antenna element, Mi.

11. The TV transmission system defined in claim 1, wherein said antenna elements are substantially directional and are arranged as a group to radiate in a plurality of different horizontal directions.

12. The TV transmission system defined in claim 11, wherein said antenna elements are arranged as a group to radiate in substantially all horizontal directions.